City ‘hotbed’ of Islamist terror Highest proportion of convicted terrorists hail from just a few wards
BIRMINGHAM is Britain’s fastest-rising terrorist capital, a chilling new report warns this week.
The wards of Springfield and Sparkhill, in particular, have been home to a high proportion of convicted terrorists.
The warning is contained in a 1,000-page report published by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank in Parliament.
Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, is helping to launch the findings.
He is chairman of the national counter-terrorism coordination committee and an assistant commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police.
Researchers looked at the backgrounds of people convicted of Islamist-related terrorism in the UK and found that Birmingham and London had produced the most terrorists.
There have been 269 people convicted of Islamist terrorism offences, or killed as suicide bombers, in the UK between 1998 and 2015.
Forty-nine of these came from the West Midlands – representing almost a fifth of the total.
And 39 of them came from Birmingham itself, concentrated in the Hall Green and Hodge Hill constituencies, the report says.
They include nine from the Springfield ward and five from the Sparkbrook ward, both in Hall Green.
Another five came from the Hodge Hill Ward, and five came from Washwood Heath ward, in Hodge Hill constituency.
While Islamist terrorism has decreased in London, it has been on the rise in Birmingham over the past 20 years.
The West Midlands saw an eight per cent increase in the proportion of individuals living there responsible for UK terrorism 1998 and 2015.
Statistics show that the figure rose from 15 per cent to 23 per cent.
Last month, Birmingham student Humza Ali became the latest man from the city to be jailed for terrorrelated offences.
The 20-year-old, from Ward End, was one of a group of prospective IS recruits who trained at a local paintball centre, and was jailed for nine years. The report, which is the most offences between in-depth examination into Islamist terrorism on British shores for a generation, also reveals there has been a sharp increase in women taking part in terrorism.
They include Sally Jones, British poster girl for Islamic State and known as the White Widow after the death of her Kings Heath terrorist lover, Junaid Hussain.
Jones, who now goes by the name Umm Hussain Britaniyah, is one of the world’s most wanted terrorists and is believed to be on a hit list of 20 jihadis to be targeted by the SAS.
She is reportedly leader of the secret Anwar al-Awlaki battalion’s female wing, where she is said to be responsible for training European female terror recruits.
Hannah Stuart, senior research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and the report’s author, said: “Birmingham has become the country’s second major terrorism hotspot.
“Such a high concentration of offenders in Hall Green and Hodge Hill will focus the minds of policy makers and the police when it comes to deciding where to target our counter-terrorism efforts.
“This report poses some particular challenges for the authorities.
“While it confirms widely held conceptions, such as the majority of terrorism offenders are young males, it also highlights new threats that have developed since the Millennium.
“As we continue to improve our policing of Islamist terrorism – the prevalent national security threat of our age – we should be aware that the vast majority of UK-based terrorists do not act alone.
“This research shows that the overwhelming majority are part of wider networks, formed online and in person, with family and friends – and have been radicalised here in Britain.”
Such a high concentration of offenders... will focus the minds of policy makers Hannah Stuart, the Henry Jackson Society